Category — Rum

Ah Valentine’s Day, that special holiday when couples spend money and singles spend time alone.  Whichever boat you’re in this year, you might as well add a naked lady to the mix.

Despite the name, the Naked Lady cocktail is actually quite sophisticated, and an inexpensive Valentine’s date.  It’s  an aperitif with elements of the aromatic (vermouth), the sweet (grenadine, apricot brandy) and the sour (lemon juice).  The result is a well-balanced cocktail with a name that’s sure to up your street cred, like when you tell your friends about your evening at home with five, maybe six naked ladies.

Ingredients:

1 2/5 parts Bacardi Superior Rum
1 2/5 parts Noilly Prat Rouge Vermouth
1/5 part Apricot brandy
1/5 part Pomegranate Grenadine
1/5 part Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Lemon zest

Shake all ingredients until very cold, and double strain that baby into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with the lemon zest.

With Thanksgiving nearly upon us and a slew of other holidays on the horizon, it’s time to pull out cocktails that you don’t make any other time of the year.  Drinks with ingredients like pumpkin puree and vanilla liqueur are acceptable and downright tasty during the judgment-free holidays, when festiveness trumps sensibility.

The below cocktail recipes utilize some seasonal flavors as families everywhere gear up for the holidays with a drink in hand.

Pumpkin Egg Nog

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces Appleton Estate Reserve Rum
1/2 ounce Navan vanilla liqueur
1 ounce egg nog
1 ounce pumpkin purée
4 dashes Angostura bitters
1 bar spoon real maple syrup

Shake all ingredients with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Optionally, add a topper of whipped cream.

Apple Pie Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 ounce white rum
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
1 teaspoon Applejack brandy
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grenadine

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Maple Leaf

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces bourbon
1/2 ounce real maple syrup
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

Shake all ingredients with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass.

Apple Pie Martini

Ingredients:

2 ounces apple cider
1.5 ounces Navan vanilla liqueur
1 ounce vodka
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 pinch cinnamon

Shake all ingredients with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Sprinkle cinnamon on top.

On rare occasions Christie’s auction house does something that makes me pay attention, like hock pricey bottles of hooch.  On November 14, Christie’s will auction off upwards of $2 million worth of wines and spirits, including select bottles of whiskey, cognac, armagnac and champagne, plus the very rare 1964 Bowmore Trilogy.

The Black, White and Gold Bowmore whiskies were aged below sea level at Bowmore’s Islay distillery for 42, 43 and 44 years, respectively. For their trouble, the trio of bottles is predicted to sell for up to $24,000.

Other highlights include a 100 year old armagnac from Baron de Sigognac, estimated at up to $3,000, and a ceramic demijohn of British Imperial Rum sourced from the last remaining stores of the Royal Navy, estimated to go for $4,500 – $6,000.

Opportunities to procure such fine spirits are scarce, so isn’t it time to cash in your kid’s college fund and invest in your future.

[via Duncan Quinn]

Like so many good tiki drinks from the glory days of Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron and Don the Beachcomber, the Fogcutter dwindled into obscurity for decades.  But after its turn languishing in obscurity, this drink has again begun to appear on select cocktail menus across the country.  Or course, in true cocktail fashion, very few recipes are the same.

The below recipes come from your friend and mine, Dr. Cocktail, and his book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails.  This booze bible lists two recipes for the Fogcutter, with the earlier version of the two going something like this:

Ingredients:

1/2 ounce orgeat
2 ounces Bacardi Gold Rum
1 ounce Pisco Brandy
1/2 ounce Plymouth Gin
1 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
2 ounces fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce cream sherry

Shake all ingredients except sherry with ice and pour into a chimney glass.  Float the sherry on top.

Another version of the Fogcutter, found below, is the preferred recipe of famed bartender Tony Ramos, an original bartender at Don the Beachcomber.

Ingredients:

1 ounce white rum
1/2 ounce gin
1/2 ounce brandy
1/2 ounce sweet and sour mix
2 dashes simple syrup

Combine all ingredients with ice and blend.  Pour into a goblet and float some cherry-flavored brandy on top.

You might notice the ample amount of booze packed into this drink.  To quote Trader Vic himself: “Fog Cutter, hell. After two of these, you won’t even see the stuff.”

The Cable Car cocktail is a variation of the classic Sidecar.  But while the Sidecar dates back to World War I, the Cable Car is a recent creation, as far as drinks go, and was created in 1996 by Tony Abou-Ganim as a signature cocktail for the Starlight Room, a cocktail lounge in San Francisco’s Sir Francis Drake Hotel.

The Sidecar uses cognac as its base spirit, while the Cable Car opts for spiced rum, namely, Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum.  The Sidecar also calls for Cointreau, and the Cable Car calls for orange Curacao.  I’ve crafted this drink with both orange liqueurs, and was pleased with the results of each, but in general I stick with Tony’s original recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
3/4 ounce orange Curacao
1 1/2 ounces fresh lemon sour (to create lemon sour, mix two parts fresh lemon juice with one part simple syrup)

Directions:

Shake all ingredients with ice, and strain into a cinnamon sugar rimmed cocktail glass.  Garnish with an orange spiral.

For decades, the Don Q brand was only available in Puerto Rico. Luckily for American drinkers, Don Q established its USA headquarters in Dallas, TX in June 2009, making this tasty rum readily available in the states.

Don Q Grand Añejo, the jewel of the Don Q lineup, is a blend of premium rums aged between three and 12 years. The result is a smooth, flavorful spirit with plenty of flavor notes from the barrel aging.

The rum is deep copper in appearance with an initial aroma of molasses or brown sugar and a bit of oak.  Once settled in the glass for a few minutes, vanilla and more oak scents come through.

The taste is powerful, both sweet and spicy on the initial sip with some heat. The flavors subdue a bit on subsequent sips, with flavors ranging from creamy vanilla to molasses and maybe even some cinnamon.

This rum, like many aged spirits, is best enjoyed neat, but a dash of water or one ice cube can help bring out the aromas and flavors. With so many subtle complexities in flavor, Don Q Grand Añejo shows me a little something new each time I drink it.

Proof: 40 percent Alcohol by Volume
Price: $50 – $60, depending on location

Don’t worry, you won’t find any tea in this hard-hitting collection of booze.

Ingredients:

1 part each of vodka, tequila, gin, rum and triple sec
1 part lemon juice
Cola
Lemon slice

Directions:

Shake vodka, tequila, gin, rum, triple sec and lemon juice with ice. Pour into a highball glass. Top with cola, and garnish with a lemon slice.

The Papa Doble, also known as the Hemingway Daiquiri, is one of the most storied drinks of all time.

There’s nothing girly about this frozen daiquiri. Hemingway used to down these at the famed Floridita bar in Havana, Cuba. Legend has it that he once put away 16 of them in one sitting, each served in a glass the size of a vase. So the next time you’re sitting pool side thinking of mixing up a frozen cocktail, make it a Papa Doble. And in a nod to the man himself, serve them in vases.

The below recipe is taken from the memoir, Papa Hemingway, by A. E. Hotcher and describes the cocktail as it was served at Floridita. Common belief suggests that this recipe has been altered from Hemingway’s proportions to accommodate mortals.

Ingredients:

3 ounces white rum (Bacardi or Havana Club, if you can find some)
Juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1/2 grapefruit
6 drops of maraschino liqueur

Directions:

Fill a blender one-quarter full of shaved ice. Add rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur. Blend until well mixed and serve in a massive goblet, Hemingway style. A popular variation is to shake all ingredients with ice, and pour over shaved ice into a goblet or cocktail glass.

This tasty cocktail originated in Havana, Cuba in the 1920s, a time and place in which many of today’s most popular rum drinks originated. It was named after Cuban president, Gerado Machado.

Bacardi works fine as the base spirit in an El Presidente and allows the other ingredients to shine, but using a richer rum like Appleton white or 10 Cane will add a mellow smoothness to the cocktail. Noilly Prat makes an excellent dry vermouth, and for the adventurous set, try creating your own grenadine. Simply mix pure pomegranate juice with superfine sugar until the sugar is well dissolved and the consistency turns to a syrup.

Ingredients:

1 ½ ounces white rum
3/4 ounce orange Curacao
3/4 ounce dry vermouth
dash of grenadine

Directions:

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a twist of orange peel, if desired.